Emergency car-brake.



PATENTED JAN. 13, 1903.

HQ FRESH. EMERGENCY GAR BRAKE.

APPLICATION FILED JULY 8, 1902.-

1'0 MODEL;

UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY FRESH, OF CUMBERLAND, MARYLAND.

EMERGENCY CAR-:BRAKE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 718,448, dated January 13, 1903.

Application filed July 8, 1902. Serial No. 114,772. (No model.)

To all whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY FRESH, a resident of Cumberland, in the county of Allegany and State of Maryland have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Emergency Oar-Brakes; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it pertains to make and use the same.

The invention relates to an improvement in emergency car-brakes comprising what are known as chock-blocks, and has forits object to simplify their construction and increase their efliciency.

The invention consists in the construction herein described and pointed out.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a partial elevation of a car-wheel and connected parts, a track-rail and a frame-bar being shown in transverse section. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of a modified detail.

The letter N denotes a car-wheel running on a rail M. A side bar of a truck-frame is denoted by J, and J indicates a projection of the same above the car-axle.

G denotes what is known as a chockblock, and L a shoe of hard steel detachably secured to the block and provided on its under face with corrugations to increase the friction between the rail and block.

H denotes a hanger or bar cooperating with a hanger'or bar F to support the block either in or out of contact with the wheel, as required in practice. The hanger-bar H is pivoted on a stud or pin 0, extending through a slot in the bar, as shown. Said slot provides for the lengthwise play of the bar, I

In the situation represented the block is in contact with the. wheel and the rail, and the bar-supporting stud-is at the upper end of the slot. To lift the bar up and away from the wheel and rail, the bar must be moved endwise and upwardly, and such movement is permitted by the said slot. The movements just described are caused by the operation of angle-lever B E and arm F, when said lever is caused to turn with its axis 0 by means of chain A.

The bar F is pivotally secured to the chockblock shoe in any efficient manner. As shown,

it is secured in a slot or recess in the upper end G of the block bya transverse bolt-pivot.

The upper end of bar F is pivotally joined to an arm E, fast on a shaft 0, which is journaled in a block D, fixed on the frame. The shaft extends to and is journaled in a similar block fastened to an opposite frame-bar. On the same shaftis fixed an arm B. The broken line (indicated bya) denotes a connection of any usual form extending to a convenient situation for the operation of the brake by turning the shaft 0. When turned to the right, as represented, the block G is thrown onto the rail and under the wheel and in contact with both and lifts the wheel'from the rail, whereupon the car being in motion the wheel is lifted from the rail and the corrugated shoe forced against said rail and under the wheel, thus acting instantly to block the wheel and stop the car.

In some cases it is proposed to provide the upper part of the chop-block with corrugations or with a hard-steel corrugated shoe.

It will of course be understood that each of a pair of wheels will preferably be provided with similar devices connected by shaft 0 for blocking the wheels, and K is a bar or rod to connect two chock-blocks.

As the barH is so pported in the frame above and immediately over the wheel-axle, the pull which is exerted by the crowding of the shoe under the wheel is nearly in line with the vertical central diameter of the shaft. This sitnation of the bar-support also provides for a greater effect of gravity in dropping the block than would a point of bar suspension situated forward of the wheel-center. It further provides for a greater curvature of the path of the shoe as compared with the circumference of the car-wheel, whereby the shoe is more quickly movable to and from the wheelperiphery.

The mode of pivotally joining one end of the bar F to the block and the other to an actuating-arm of the shaft 0 is simple and efficient and coacts with the manner of suspending the bar H to insure an easy, smooth, and speedy movement of the block.

The hanger H is fixed to block G, and as said hanger is supported from a point immediately over and near the center of the wheel its end is but a little longer than the radius 0f the wheel. The block moves in a circle approximately parallel with the circumference of the wheel and is always held near if not against it. The bar F is pivoted to the block G near the circumference of the wheel and is in a line approximately tangential thereto, and since bar H is movable upward by reason of its slotted hearing for the pin 0 the bar F in operation holds the block G close to the wheel. The shaft C and its arm B are arranged to turn the bar F on its pivot connection with the block when lifted and move said bar toward the wheel. With this construction only a slight elevation of the block is necessary to render it inoperative, and an equally-slight drop will put it in operative situation. The block will come in contact with the wheel as soon as it does with the rail or sooner instead of first dropping onto the rail, as in prior constructions. This insures that the wheel rides upon the block without shock or jar and avoids a dragging of the wheel on the rail.

My invention is primarily intended for street-cars in hilly sections, though capable of other uses.

In some cases, as indicated in Fig. 2, I secure upon the block G a steel bit or trackscraper P, the lower end of which is adapted to rest on or close to the rail to remove ice, sleet, snow, or the like from the rail. This bit or scraper may be fixed by a screw R in a bracket Q, bolted, as indicated at S, to the block. If desired, the bit may be attached to the block by a strong spring T, normally holding the edge of the hit upon the rail, but providing for some play between the block G and the end Q of the bracket, as indicated in Fig. 3.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In an emergency-brake for'a car-wheel, a chock-block having a friction-surface for said wheel, and a friction-surface for the rail on which the wheel moves, said block being provided also with an ice-removing scraper in advance of the friction-surface of the block for the rail.

2. In an emergency-brake for a car-wheel, a chock-block having a friction-surface for said wheel, and a frictiomsurface for the rail on which the wheel moves, said block being provided also with an ice-removing scraper in advance of the friction-surface of the block provided also with an ice-removing scraper in advance of the friction-surface of the block for the rail, and consisting of an upwardlyextending bar-scraper P, and a support therefor on said chock-block, and means for adjustably holding said scraper in its adjusted position.

4. In an emergency-brake for a car-wheel,

a brake-block, a hanger therefor supported at a point immediately over the wheel axle, and means for lifting the block from the rail, said hanger being movable endwise on its support by said means.

5. In an emergency-brake for a car-wheel, a brakebloek, a hanger therefor supported at a point immediately over the wheel-axle, and means for lifting the block from the rail, said hanger being movable endwise on its support by said means, said means comprising a lifting-bar attached to the block immediately adjacent the wheel.

6. In an emergency-brake for a car-Wheel, a brake-block, a hanger therefor supported at a point immediately over the wheel-axle, and means for lifting the block from the rail, said hanger being movable endwise on its support by said means, said means comprising a lifting-bar tangential to the Wheel and attached to the block immediately adjacent the wheel.

7. In an emergency-brake for a car-wheel, a brake-block, a hanger therefor supported at a point immediately over the Wheel-axle, and means for lifting the block from the rail, said hanger being movable endwise on its support by said means, said means comprising a lifting-bar attached to the block immediately adjacent the wheel, and a crank-shaft to lift said bar and block, the crank-shaft acting to move the bar toward the wheel in lifting the block.

In testimony whereof I have signed this specification in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY FRESH.

\Vitnesses:

JOSEPH WHITE, ALEXANDER KING. 

